Apparatus for successively operating upon sheets whilst in a stack



Sept. 13, 1966 5. HAINES APPARATUS FOR SUCCESSIVELY OPERATING UPON SHEETS WHILST IN A STACK 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 15, 1964 QiLEEEEE Sept. 13, 1966 5. HAINES 3,272,503

APPARATUS FOR SUCCESSIVELY OPERATING UPON SHEETS WHILST IN A STACK Filed July 15, 1964 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Sept. 13, 1966 APPARATUS FR SUCCESSIVELY OPERATING Filed July 15, 1964 8 HAINES UPON SHEETS WHILST IN A STACK 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Sept. 13, 1966 5. HAINES 3,272,503

A RATUS FOR SUCGESSIVELY OPERATING PON SHEETS WHILST IN A STA 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed July 15. 1964 Sept. 13, 1966 5. HAINES 3,272,503

APPARATUS FOR SUCCESSIVELY OPERATING UPON SHEETS WHILST IN A STACK Filed July 15, 1964 s Sheets-Sheet 5 Sept. 13, 1966 5. HAINES 3, 03

APPARATUS FOR SUCCESSIVELY OPERATING UPON SHEETS WHILST IN A STACK Filed July 15, 1964 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 United States Patent This invention relates to apparatus for successively operating upon sheets in a stack and is particularly applicable to apparatus which successively separates the corners or edges of adjacent sheets and in so doing actuates counting mechanism. It will be appreciated that when the sheets are arranged one above another the sheets in the lower part will be pressed together with considerable force due to the weight of the sheets above them, and thus it may be difiicult to operate upon the lower sheets. An object of the present invention is to overcome this difficulty.

According to this invention an apparatus for successively operating upon sheets whilst in a stack comprises a support for said stack, an operating head movable along the stack, means engageable with parts of the stack, after a predetermined movement of the head along the stack, so as to move the sheets or parts away from the head on one side thereof thereby relieving the pressure of those sheets on the head during its operation.

The said means which are engageable with said stack may be arranged to support the weight of a number of sheets or parts thereof which are disposed above the operating head whilst it is operating upon the sheets below the supported ones, and mechanism may be provided for bringing said weight supporting means into and out of engagement with said stack.

In one arrangement according to the invention said engageable and disengageable weight supporting means are adapted to lift said number of sheets or parts thereof and are carried by said support or by parts secured thereto, and are arranged to move a number of sheets or parts thereof, which have been operated upon, away from those to be operated upon and which operating head is movable downwardly along the stack for operating successfully on the sheets.

The weight supporting means may be adapted to engage two sides of the stack adjacent a corner thereof.

The movement of the operating head along the stack may be arranged automatically to bring the stack engaging means into operation after a predetermined amount of sheets have been operated upon.

A number of independently operable engageable and disengageable weight supporting means may be disposed one above the other along the stack so that they may be brought successively into operation as the operating head moves along the stack.

In such an arrangement means may be provided for applying additional movement to the stack engaging means along the stack after their initial movement and as the operating head moves downwardly, so as to compensate for sag in the sheets between locations away from the locations where the sheets are engaged by said means. Such an arrangement is particularly applicable where the stack engaging means engage the stack adjacent a corner thereof but disposed away from said corner, since it will be appreciated with such an arrangement the corners are liable to sag and thus although a group of sheets may have been lifted away from those beneath it the sagging corners of the lifted sheets may rest on the corners of the next group below them particularly when the next group is lifted, but by providing Patented Sept. 13, lgdfi an additional lift to an upper group the sagging corners will no longer interfere with the group of sheets below it.

A number of superimposed groups of stack engaging and disengaging means may be provided all the means in each group being independently and successively operable and means may he provided for lifting a group as a whole when the last engaging means in the group has been operated whereby an additional lifting movement is applied to the sheets or parts thereof which have been operated upon and before or when the operating head has been brought into operation on the next group of sheets.

In many of the arrangements referred to above and in which said sheets or parts thereof are lifted by said stack engaging means, the said means may comprise tluid actuated rams the valves of which are actuated consequent upon the movement of the operating head along the stack.

In such an arrangement there may be provided a number of superimposed groups of fluid actuated rams, the rams in each group being provided with stack engaging elements which engage the stack one above another and each of which group of rams is mounted on a carrier which carriers are movable in guideways in an up and down direction except the lowermost carrier which is mounted on a fixed part of the apparatus and each carrier except the lowermost carrier is moved by a further fluid actuated ram mounted on a lower carrier and the valves of each further ram are actuated by the downward movement of the operating head or by the movement of the uppermost ram on a lower carrier.

In any of the arrangements referred to above the said operating head may comprise a rotatable or oscilla-table suction device so mounted that a suction opening therein is brought into and out of contact with a part of a sheet and moves that part from the neighbouring sheet to form a gap between them, and means rotating or oscillating with said suction device for maintaining the gap until the suction opening is brought opposite an exposed part of said neighbouring sheet.

In the case where the apparatus is arranged for counting the sheets, means are provided for actuating a counter for each rotation or oscillation of said suction device. One form of sheet counting apparatus to which the present invention is applicable is that described in US. patent application, Serial No. 382,725, filed July 15, 1964, in which a drum is rotatable about on an axis parallel to the planes of sheets and is arranged across a corner of a stack so that a part of its circumference is disposed in a gap between corners of adjacent sheets and in which a suction device is rotatable within the drum about an axis parallel to and spaced from said axis so that during a part of the revolution of the drum a suction opening in said suction device projects through an opening in the drum opposite the corner of the lower sheet and draws it upwardly whereafter it passes on to the outside and upperside of the drum and the further rotation of the drum and suction device brings the suction opening opposite the corner of the next lower sheet and so on and in which a counter is operated for each revolution of the drum.

The invention is also applicable to a sheet counting apparatus wherein the rotatable suction device comprises a thin peripheral portion extending transversely to the axis of rotation and substantially parallel to the planes of the sheets, which peripheral portion of the rotor is formed with a radially extending slit, and on one side of the slit has a part displaced out of the general plane of the peripheral portion and which rotor is so mounted that its peripheral portion is rotatable between adjacent sheets of the pile, whereby the slit may enter and leave the pile of sheets during every revolution and which displaced part of the peripheral portions is arranged, before the slit enters the pile, to displace the sheets on one side of it in one direction and is provided with means to deflect a single sheet on the other side of it in the same direction, whereby the part of the peripheral portion on the other side of the slit may subsequently pass across the deflected single sheet on the opposite side thereof to said spaced peripheral portion and means actuated by the deflection of said single sheet to operate a counter.

The invention is also applicable to a sheet counting apparatus such as is described in U.S. Patents Nos. 2,393,- 814 and 2,663,567 in which a suction device oscillates about an axis parallel to the planes of the sheets and extends across the corner of a stack and is disposed in a gap between corner of adjacent sheets and is provided with a suction opening directed towards one of the sheets in the gap and in which a stripping element rotates around the suction device and draws the corner of the sheet which has been sucked up by it, from one side to the other of the suction device, thus exposing the suction opening to a fresh sheet.

on rods 7 and is moved in an up and down direction by a lead screw 6 driven by a motor 5 at the top of the apparatus. A counter 9 is operated for each rotation of the drum through a transmission 4 except when a corner of a sheet is not lifted by the suction device as fully described in the above mentioned US. application, Serial No. 382,725.

In FIGURE 1 only one group of rams is shown having two sets of three rams 25, 26 opposite two sides of the stack adjacent the corner 27 thereof.

The cylinders of the rams, which are pneumatically operated, are mounted at an angle of approximately to the vertical, the planes containing the axes of the cylinders of the two sets being at 90 to one another. A rubber-faced pad 28 is attached to the plunger 29 for each pneumatic cylinder, and each cylinder and pad is capable of a swinging movement in a vertical plane about pivots 30 and 31, respectively.

The following is a description of a number of embodi- I ments of the invention reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of an upper part of stack of sheets having associated therewith a counting device such as is described in my co-pending United States application No. 382,725, filed July 15, 1964, and a group of sheet lifting devices;

FIGURE 2 is a diagrammatic side view showing the manner in which a number of groups of sheet lifting devices are disposed and the means for lifting each group bodily;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevation of the assembly shown in FIGURE 2 looking from the left of that figure, and omitting the lifting devices;

FIGURE 4 is a more detailed view of a part of the arrangement shown in FIGURE 2 and looking from the opposite side of the stack five lifting devices being arranged in each group instead of four as in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is a diagrammatic perspective View of a part of each of two groups of sheet lifting devices showing the manner in which a group is lifted bodily under the control of a downwardly travelling counting head;

FIGURE 6 is a diagrammatic view of a part of a stack and lifting mechanism embodying an alternative form of counting head; and

FIGURE 7 shows a part of a stack and a diagrammatic vie-w of the counting mechanism such as is described in US. Patents Nos. 2,393,814 and 2,633,567.

Referring to FIGURE 1 a sheet counting head 10 is arranged to move downwardly along a stack 11 of sheets mounted on a support 12 (FIGURE 2). The counting head is arranged to operate upon the sheets in the manner described in the specification of my co-pending United States application Serial No. 382,725, filed July 15, 1964.

In general that apparatus comprises a drum 14 which is rotatable about an axis parallel with the planes of the sheets so that a part of its circumference is disposed in a gap between two adjacent sheet corners and a suction device 13 mounted in the drum to rotate in the opposite direction thereto about an axis spaced from and parallel to the first axis, which drum has an opening 15 from which the suction device 13 can project during a part of its rotation when its suction opening is opposite the corner of a sheet. The arrangement is such that after a corner of a sheet has been sucked up it passes on to the outside of the upper part of the drum and a gap is maintained between it and a corner of the next sheet below it until the suction opening in the rotating suction device comes opposite the next lower corner which is then sucked up and so on. The drum 14 and suction device 13 are rotated through belt transmissions 8a from a motor 8 mounted on the head 10 which latter is guided A number of superimposed groups of rams may 'be provided as best seen in FIGURE 2 each made up of two sets of rams disposed on either side of a corner 27 of the stack and each set contains an appropriate number of rams (four in FIGURE 2 and five in FIGURE 4).

Referring to FIGURE 4 each cylinder 25 is secured in a carrier 86 which is pivotally mounted by trunnions between two spaced upright plates 87 one of which trunnions is indicated at 31. One end of each cylinder 25 remote from the trunnions has attached thereto one end of a helical tension spring 88 the other end of which is attached at 89 to one of the plates 87. Above and below each carrier 86 there is secured, between the plates, stops 90 which limit the swinging movement of the cylinders. The lowermost of the five carriers 86 carries a stop 93 which by coming against one edge of the plates 87 limits anti-clockwise movement of the lowermost carrier. The assembly of the two spaced plates 87 and the group of cylinders 25, 26 which they support is provided with rollers 91 except the lowermost assembly and these rollers are arranged to move along vertical spaced tracks 92 attached to a fixed part of the apparatus. The plates 87 of the lowermost group are fixed see FIGURE 3.

Each pair of plates 87 except the lowermost pair is attached to the piston rod 94a of a vertical lift air cylinder 94 mounted on a part secured to a pair of plates 87 of a lower group the arrangement being such that when the motor 94 is energised a whole group of cylinders 25 is urged upwardly.

The operation of the cylinders is as follows:

Each pair of cylinders 25, 26 at each level is connected to a source of pressure through a trip valve actuated by the downwardly moving counting head see FIGURE 5 in which only the cylinders 25 in each group are shown. In this figure the trip valves are indicated at 96, the source of pressure at 97 and the counting head at 98. The trip valves are mounted one above the other on a fixed part of the apparatus and are spaced apart to a similar extent as the spacing of the cylinders 25. Each trip valve 96 is connected to a pair of cylinders 25, 26 by pipelines 99, 'but as indicated above only the cylinders 25 are shown. Except for the uppermost group of cylinders a branch pipe 99a connects the upper pipeline 99 of each group to the bottom of the vertical lift ylinder 94 which raises the group of cylinders above it.

As the plungers 29 of the cylinders 25, 26 extend under air pressure the rubber faced pads 28 come into contact with the sides of the stack, and as the pressure builds up the cylinders are caused to swing about their trunnion pivots 30, 31 thus causing the pads 28 to have a substantially vertical movement whilst gripping the sides of the portion of the stack which lies above the drum 14, the corners of this portion of the stack are therefore lifted slightly above the level of the drum. Each pair of cylinders 25, 26 once operated remains in the operated or gripping condition partly supporting the weight of the stack above them. As the counter head 98 moves downwardly when the weight of the sheets above the drum again reaches an acceptable maximum determined by the extent of the downward movement of the counter head 98, the head is arranged to trip the next valve 96 causing the next cylinders 25, 26 on each side of the stack to be energised. When the counter head 98 has moved down sufiiciently for all the five pairs of cylinders 26 to be energised, the valve associated with the upper pair of cylinders 25, 26 of the next group will be tripped and this causes not only those cylinders to be energised but also the cylinder 94 to be energised thus causing the upper group of cylinders and their gripping pads 28 to be moved bodily upwards thus should there be any sag of the corners of the sheets between these pads it will not interfere with the operation of the drum on the corners of the sheets lower down in the stack. The downward movement of the counter head 98 then continues and the tOp most cylinders 25, 26 of a further group beneath the first group is then operated and when all five cylinders on the next group have been operated then that assembly is moved upwards by another of vertical air lift motor 94. The number of assemblies may be varied according to the height of the stack of sheets to be counted.

When the drum 14 reaches the bottom of the stack and has counted all the sheets therein the entire stack is supported at intervals for the most of its height by the rams 25, 26, and 94. The stack may then be released from the grip of the rubber faced pads 28 by venting the pneumatic cylinders thus causing the plungers 29 and 94a to retract.

In FIGURE 6 a different form of counting head is shown.

In this arrangement the counting head 10 may be moved in an up and down direction in a similar manner to that described with reference to FIGURE 1 and comprises a rotor 100 having a thin peripheral portion 101 extending transversely to the axis of rotation which is vertically disposed and which thin peripheral portion extends transversely to that axis and substantially parallel to the planes of the sheets.

The peripheral portion of the rot-or is formed with a radially extending slit 102 and on the leading side of the slit the rotor has a. part 103 displaced out of the general plane of the peripheral portion, and which part 103 upon entering the corner of the stack is arranged to lift the corners of the sheets above it and is provided on the underside thereof with a suction port 104 which when the part 103 is disposed between two sheets sucks up the corner of the under sheet whereupon further rotation of the counter head brings a part 105 of the rotor beneath the lifted sheet and maintains a gap between it and the corner of the lower sheet until the part 103 again enters the gap in the stack.

The part 105 is provided with means 166 for transmitting a signal to the counter 9 so that it is operated in each revolution of the counting head.

The counting head shown in FIGURE 7 is similar to that describe-d in US. Patents Nos. 2,393,814 and 2,663; 567 and comprises a suction device 107 which is oscillatable about an axis substantially parallel to the planes of the sheets of the stack and extends across a corner 27 thereof. It is provided with a suction opening on one side thereof which during a. part of the oscillation comes opposite the upper face of an underlying corner of the sheet so as to suck it up. Rotata ble about the suction device is a stripping element 108 which after a corner has been sucked up enters the gap between that corner and the corner of a lower sheet and draws the first said corner from one side to the other of the suction device. In any of the arrangements referred to above the counting head could be inverted and traversed upwardly in which case the pads 28 would be arranged to press the corners of the sheets, already counted, downwardly from the head 10, and the corner of the stack would require to overhang the support.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for successively operating upon sheets whilst in a stack comprising a support for said stack, an operating head movable along and operating on the stack, means engageable with parts of the stack after a predetermined movement of the head along the stack, so as to move the sheets or parts thereof away from the head on one side thereby relieving the pressure of those sheets on the head during its operation.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said means which are engageable with said stack are arranged to support the weight of a number of sheets or parts thereof of which are disposed above the operating head whilst it is operating upon the sheets below the supported ones, and wherein there is provided mechanism for bringing said weight supporting means into and out of engagement with said stack.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said engageable and disengageable weight supporting means are adapted to lift said number of sheets or parts thereof and are carried by said support or by a part secured thereto and arranged to move a number of sheets or parts thereof, which have been operated upon, away from those to be operated upon and which operating head is movable downwardly along the stack for operating successively on the sheets.

4. An apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said weight supporting means are adapted to engage two sides of the stack adjacent a corner thereof.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein movement of the operating head along the stack is arranged automatically to bring the stack engaging means into operation after a predetermined amount of sheets have been operated upon.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein a number of independently operable, engageable and disengageable weight supporting means are disposed one above the other along the stack so that they may be brought successively into operation as the operating head moves along the stack.

7. An apparatus according to claim 6 wherein means are provided for applying additional movement to said stack engaging means along the stack, after their initial movement, and as the operating head moves downwardly so as to compensate for sag in the sheets at locations where the sheets are engaged by said means.

8. An apparatus according to claim 7 wherein a number of superimposed groups of stack engaging and disengaging means are provided all the means in each group being independently and successively operable and wherein means are provided for lifting a group as a whole when the last engaging means in the group has been operated, whereby an additional lifting movement is applied to the sheets which have been operated upon.

9. An apparatus according to claim 1 and in which said sheets are lifted by said stack engaging means, wherein said means comprise fluid actuated rams the valves of which are actuated consequent upon the movement of the operating head along the stack.

10. An apparatus according to claim 8 wherein there are provided a number of superimposed groups of fluid actuated rams the rams in each group being provided with stack engaging elements which engage the stack one above another and each of which groups of rams is mounted on a carrier which carriers are movable in guideways in an up and down direction except the lowermost carrier which is mounted on a fixed part of the apparatus and wherein each carrier except the lowermost carrier is moved by a further fluid actuated ram mounted on a lower carrier.

11. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said operating head comprises a movable suction device so mounted that a suction opening thereing is brought into and out of contact with a part of sheet and moves that part from the neighbouring sheet to form a gap between them and means moving with the suction device for main- 7 taining the gap -until the suction opening is brought op-posite an exposed part of said neighbouring sheet.

12. A sheet counting apparatus according to claim. 11 wherein means are provided for actuating a counter for each movement of a sheet by said movable suction device.

13. A sheet counting apparatus according to claim 11 wherein said suction device comprises a drum which is rotatable about an axis parallel to the planes of sheets and is arranged across a corner of a stack so that a part of its circumference is disposed in a gap between corners of adjacent sheets and a suction device is rotatable within the drum about an axis parallel to and spaced from. said axis so that during a part of the revolution of the drum a suction opening in said suction device projects through an opening in the drum opposite the corner of the lower sheet and draws it upwardly whereafter it passes on to the outside and upper side of the drum and further rotation of the drum and suction device brings the suction opening opposite the corner of the next lower sheet and so on a counter being operated for each revolution of the drum.

14. A sheet counting apparatus according to claim 11 wherein said suction device is rotatable and comprises a thin peripheral portion extending transversely to the axis of rotation and substantially parallel to the planes of the sheets, which peripheral portion of the rotor is formed with a radially extending slit, and on one side of the slit has a part displaced out of the general plane of the peripheral portion and which rotor is so mounted that its peripheral portion is rotatable between adjacent sheets of the pile, whereby the slit may enter and leave the pile of sheets during every revolution and which displaced part of the peripheral portions is arranged, before the slit enters the pile, to displace the sheets one one side of it in one direction and is provided with means to deflect a single sheet on the ther side of it in the same direction, whereby the part of the peripheral portion on the other side of the slit may subsequently pass across the deflected single sheet on the opposite side thereof to said spaced peripheral portion and means actuated by the deflection of said single sheet to operate a counter.

15. A sheet counting apparatus according to claim 11 wherein the counting mechanism comprises a suction device oscillatable about an axis parallel to the planes of the sheets and extending across the corner of a stack which suction device is disposed in a gap between corners of adjacent sheets and is provided with a suction opening directed towards one of the sheets in the gap and a stripping element rotatable around the suction device so as to draw the corner of the sheet which has been sucked up by the suction device, from one side to the other of the suction device, thus exposing the suction opening to a fresh sheet.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,696,114 12/1928 Goflin 27-22 OTHER REFERENCES K 22,611 XII/15h, May 1956, German printed application.

ROBERT B. REEVES, Primary Examiner.

HADD S. LANE, Examiner. 

1. AN APPARATUS FOR SUCCESSIVELY OPERATING UPON SHEETS WHILST IN A STACK COMPRISING A SUPPORT FOR SAID STACK, AN OPERATING HEAD MOVABLE ALONG AND OPERATING ON THE STACK, MEANS ENGAGEABLE WITH PARTS OF THE STACK AFTER A PREDETERMINED MOVEMENT OF THE HEAD ALONG THE STACK, SO AS TO MOVE THE SHEETS OR PARTS THEREOF AWAY FROM THE HEAD ON ONE SIDE THEREBY RELIEVING THE PRESSURE OF THOSE SHEETS ON THE HEAD DURING ITS OPERATION. 